Research & reports

Marta Camps‐Calvet, Johannes Langemeyer, Laura Calvet‐Mir, Erik Gómez‐Baggethun, Hug March · Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) · Spain (Barcelona)

This research examined the role of urban gardens in building community resilience and articulating resistance in Barcelona, Spain, based on data from 27 urban gardening initiatives (13 self-governed, 14 public). Results showed that urban gardens contribute to resilience by fostering social and ecological diversity, transmitting local ecological knowledge, and creating opportunities for collective action and self-organization.

Judith Schicklinski · WIFO Studies · Europe

Across Europe, self-organized civil society movements are emerging to address local challenges, particularly in maintaining and developing green spaces where local governments face budget constraints. Initiatives like urban gardening demonstrate people's ability to cooperate, organize, and take responsibility for green spaces, introducing practices that support socio-ecological transition. These activities contribute to urban sustainability by providing ecological benefits and recreational opportunities.

Amandine Joly · · France

This study characterized and strategically analyzed urban agriculture for the IETI external planning and environment consulting firm in Île-de-France, France. The analysis aimed to help IETI position itself commercially in urban agriculture, identifying both the benefits and the obstacles the firm might encounter. The study also briefly discussed the various scales of urban agriculture's integration into the territory and its advantages for the consulting firm.

Elena Bertrán Arroyo · · Spain (Córdoba)

This study states that cities are socio-biological systems where social and natural aspects are interconnected through the provision and consumption of ecosystem services.

Flor Ccorahua balboa, Sylvie Clarimont · · Spain

This abstract discusses the re-evaluation of nature's role in and around cities, driven by global sustainable development challenges like environmental preservation and food security. It notes that agriculture is increasingly used to reconcile urban and natural spaces due to its recognized multifunctional character. The emergence of new agricultural spaces in intra-urban and peri-urban areas of major cities in both developed and developing countries reflects a shift in local policies towards integrating cities with nature.

Hanife Vardi Topal · · Turkey (Izmir)

Community gardening was evaluated as a tool for sustainable urban development in the Izmir Metropolitan area, Turkey. The potential of existing community gardens was investigated at two case study sites in Bornova and Buca, focusing on the social, economic, and environmental qualities of the region. A mixed method approach, incorporating historical research, interviews, and diagramming, was used. After evaluating findings from site observations, open discussions, and interviews, the data was used to illustrate a conceptual community garden network in Izmir.

Aurora Cavallo, Benedetta Di Donato, Rossella Guadagno, Davide Marino · RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA · Italy (Rome)

This paper examines the characteristics and dynamics of urban agriculture in Rome, Italy, aiming to propose a taxonomy of urban agriculture types. It presents a preliminary analysis using criteria to classify the functional and relational features of agricultural activities within the urban phenomenon. The study attempts to reconstruct causal relationships between agricultural production models and their spatial and functional forms in the urban dimension.

M. Antonio Zárate Martín · Anales de Geografía de la Universidad Complutense · Spain (Madrid)

This paper is based on investigations for urban greenspace planning and the opportunities of urban agriculture for feeding a growing population. It also results from urban environmental improvement activities conducted with the School of Engineer Agronomists of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Through urban agriculture cases, the paper analyzes alternatives for recovering constructed spaces and increasing inhabitants' quality of life.

· REGAC - Revista de Estudios Globales y Arte Contempor�neo · Spain (Valencia)

This paper maps collective initiatives in Valencia, Spain, that emerged in response to inadequate national and local cultural policies. These initiatives, including urban orchards, acted as resistance to institutional policies or appropriated spaces due to a lack of public institutional interest. They function as urban experimentation laboratories for social and cultural transformation, forming a dense local network.

Baptiste Grard, N. Bel, Marchal, Nicolas, Frédéric Madre, Jean‐François Castell, Philippe Cambier, Sabine Houot, Nastaran Manouchehri, Stéphane Besançon, Jean‐Charles Michel, Claire Chenu, Nathalie Frascaria‐Lacoste, Christine Aubry · Kobra (Universitätsbibliothek Kassel) · France (Paris)

A 2012 pilot experiment in Paris, France, tested simple rooftop gardening systems using local urban organic waste as crop substrates. Measurements of production levels and heavy metal content in crops and substrates showed high crop production with limited inputs, low heavy metal pollutants in edible parts, and positive yield influence from layered substrates and earthworm inoculation. These results suggest rooftop gardening is feasible and has potential for urban resiliency, though further assessment of roof types, pollution levels, and sustainability is needed.

Michael J. Roth, Miryam Frixen, Carlos Tobisch, Thomas Scholle · · Germany (Dortmund)

This study analyzed how urban agriculture can stimulate and support urban renewal in an economically declined neighborhood in Dortmund-Hörde, Germany, using a case study. A project path was developed using participatory action research to involve residents and stakeholder groups, fostering collective stewardship for urban agriculture forms. The research concluded that synchronously combining research, planning, design, and implementation with intense feedback loops can achieve synergies for academic knowledge on urban agriculture's potential performance in sustainable development, as well as benefits for the case-study area and individual urban gardeners.

Judith Schicklinski · Econstor (Econstor) · Europe

This article examines the role of civil society movements in managing green spaces across European cities, particularly in the context of socio-ecological transition and tight public budgets. It highlights how self-organized initiatives like urban gardening contribute to maintaining and developing biodiverse green spaces, offering recreational, ecological, and climate resilience benefits. The discussion explores how citizen groups can expand green spaces and which policy frameworks foster collaboration for innovative urban food production and green-space management.

Ellen Banzhaf, Helen Kollai · ˜The œinternational archives of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences/International archives of the photogrammetry, remote sensing and spatial information sciences · Germany (Leipzig)

This study monitored urban tree cover in Leipzig, Germany, over a decade to understand its distribution and changes for sustainable urban development. Using digital orthophotos, a digital elevation model, and a digital surface model, an object-based image analysis scheme was employed for detailed tree mapping. The results demonstrated high accuracy in tree detection and effective avoidance of misclassification caused by shadows.

Maria Boștenaru Dan · Open Journal of Ecology · Italy (Pavia)

The Green Revolution Game is employed in teaching at Karlsruhe University in Germany and Ohio University in the US. This game is used not only for simulation but also as a basis for generating data for study projects, analyzing educational approaches, the applicability of game theory for simulating water scarcity hazards in rice cultivation, and its transferability from India to the context of high-yield rice and urban agriculture in Pavia, Italy.

Piotr Godyń, Maria Zielińska, Agnieszka Dołhańczuk-Śródka, Zbigniew Ziembik · Geology Geophysics & Environment · Poland

Soil samples were collected from 19 sites around the Opole industrial zone in Poland to determine the influence of the local metallurgical industry on soil contamination with metals, using Pb-210 as a contamination tracer. Results indicated that the metallurgical industry is not a source of environmental pollution in the immediate vicinity. Excessive lead concentrations ranged from 1 Bq/kg d.m. to 100 Bq/kg d.m. but were not strongly correlated with distances from the presumed source of contamination.

Alan Hallsworth, Alfred Wong · International journal on food system dynamics · United Kingdom (Portsmouth)

This empirical case study examined the potential for urban gardening to contribute to individual food security. Focusing on Portsmouth, England, the study found that prevailing economic and social structures hamper the likelihood that urban gardening can offer much greater food security. Realistically, contemporary urban gardening most closely resembles a middle-class pursuit for personal enjoyment, rather than a significant contributor to food security.

Rocío Pérez-Campaña · European Planning Studies · Spain

This research analyzed land-use transformations of peri-urban agricultural deltas and vegas in Andalucía, Spain, focusing on medium-sized cities between 1956 and 2007. It also assessed their consideration in regional spatial planning. The findings indicate that these landscapes are changing land use and sometimes disappearing, receiving meagre attention and vague consideration in spatial planning.

Miren Rekondo Iparraguirre · TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa) · Europe

This doctoral thesis explores the development of eco-citizenship competence in school gardens, specifically through collaborative technological design activities. Elementary school students designed and assembled an irrigation system for their school garden over ten activities. Analysis showed students integrated elements from various design proposals without exclusive opposition, and that design conflicts led to a more dynamic and complex garden model. The study also found differences in argumentative discourse structure and dynamics between scientific argumentation and technological design activities.

Runrid Fox-Kämper · REAL CORP Repository (University of Southampton) · Europe

This paper explores the functions of urban gardening for European cities, with an emphasis on ageing societies. It presents research on living preferences of aged persons in four German cities, indicating the importance of green space access and social functions of urban gardens. The paper also includes a literature review on urban gardening's functions in European cities and initial results from the COST Action on urban allotment gardens.

Greg Keeffe · Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) · United Kingdom

This chapter focuses on developing sustainable growing infrastructure at two scales: a large-scale city-wide fuel-productive landscape using algae arrays in Liverpool and a hyper-localized neighborhood food production system in Salford, UK, utilizing a closed-cycle aquaponic system. The author proposes a three-part model for urban agriculture implementation—hardware, software, and interface—concluding that urban agriculture should be viewed as a process rather than a static design, with benefits extending beyond physical outputs like energy and food.

Beth Perry, ⁄ Walsh, Diana Silver · White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) · United Kingdom

This project, conducted from October 2014 to May 2015, focused on the Biospheric Foundation in Blackfriars, East Salford, UK. The Biospheric Foundation was an urban socio-ecological experiment aiming to implement a whole-system approach to urban farming in a deprived area. Its goals included designing interconnected systems, retrofitting a building for ecological research, and raising public awareness of healthy food and ecological systems in urban settings.

Jeanne Pourias, Éric Duchemin, Christine Aubry · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Canada (Montreal); France (Paris)

This paper investigates the food function of collective gardens (CGs) in Paris, France, and Montreal, Canada, where their numbers have rapidly increased. Researchers conducted interviews, quantified production, and monitored plots to understand the quantities and types of fruits and vegetables produced, their destination, and space use. The results indicate a wide diversity of practices concerning CGs' food function, which should be considered alongside their multifunctionality.

Gioia Gibelli · TERRITORIO · Italy (Milan)

Agriculture has long been an important resource for Milan and its surroundings, with its significance increasing in recent years. Agricultural areas near the city can enhance urban metabolism and citizens' quality of life through ecosystem and landscape services, providing cultural and environmental services, and improving urban resilience. In this context, two important initiatives, the Agricultural District of Milan (DAM) and 'Parco delle Risaie', have been underway in Milan since 2008.

Jill Rutter · Policy Press eBooks · United Kingdom

This chapter, based on field observations in the UK, examines social interactions in "transversal spaces" such as children's centers, workplaces, online forums, parks, and allotment gardens. These spaces facilitate meaningful social contact between migrants and longer-settled residents, potentially reducing hostility. Research indicates that while interactions across class or age boundaries are common, interactions across ethnic boundaries are less frequent, though individuals aged 18-34 showed the highest ethnic integration.

Giuseppe Cinà, Francesco Di Iacovo · PORTO Publications Open Repository TOrino (Politecnico di Torino) · Italy

This paper examines urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Italy, identifying challenges in its planning, including the traditional exclusion of agricultural areas from territorial planning and the lack of local agricultural policy. The study highlights a disconnect between top-down policies and bottom-up practices, noting that numerous autonomous initiatives have emerged due to insufficient regional and local planning solutions. The authors conclude that overcoming the limitations of the top-down planning system, particularly in governance and inclusiveness, is a primary challenge for Italy.